


Save Me, San Francisco

by shanachie



Series: My Private Nation [1]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Boys Will Be Boys, Ella knows Greg waaay too well, Greg is not subtle, Nick was raised right and is a gentleman, Teens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-05
Updated: 2012-10-05
Packaged: 2017-11-15 17:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/529956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shanachie/pseuds/shanachie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greg Sanders thought the science convention would only be eventful because <i>science</i> until he caught sight of the dark haired teen in during the welcome ceremony. And suddenly it was so much more interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save Me, San Francisco

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WhoGeek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoGeek/gifts).



> So remember that whole conversation about I’m not starting any more series or new stories? Yeah…please tell that to my muse? Because I’ve written something like 20K in this series in less than a week. I. Kid. You. Not. So that’s good. I guess. Ideally I’ll be able to plow through this series and get it down and off my list. I’ve got twelve stories planned and my idea to post them in order. For the purpose of this story the boys are the same age because having them be four years apart (as per canon) just doesn’t work. In this story and the next one, they are both eighteen.

Greg Sanders tapped his pen on his leg, letting his gaze roam over the group gathered in the room. Fifty teams of three from around the country of the best and brightest in science that had already competed at their state levels to get here and now they were all contained in this room. Greg couldn’t decide if he was intimidated or excited. What he did know for certain was he was glad _his_ team was composed of his two best friends, Ella Jackson and Archie Johnson. Even if they had the unfortunate habit of getting wrapped up in each other since they’d started dating.

The groups were sitting in their teams, although he knew they’d be matched up later to work in larger groups before being broken back down. They were going to be encouraged to intermingle, but he knew he’d be sticking with Ella and Archie. Although…he tipped towards Ella, trying to better see one of the guys sitting closer to the front.

The other teen was facing away from them, his attention focused on the speaker at the front of the room, so Greg couldn’t see more than a quarter of his profile, but that was enough to make him take a second look. A dark blue baseball cap sat backwards on his head, enough of his hair peeking through that Greg could tell it was dark. Unlike most of the rest of the guys in the group, who were dressed in button downs or polo shirts, this guy had on a t-shirt that was stretched tight across well-defined muscles. As Greg watched, he leaned over and said something to one of his team members, causing the other teen to grin.

A poke in his side caused him to jump and he turned to see Ella staring at him. “If you’re done admiring the scenery, the professor has finished blathering and we can go find some food,” she commented.

“I have _no_ idea what you’re talking about,” Greg attempted as he got to his feet and followed her and Archie.

“Really? So you can tell me what the professor was talking about?” Ella responded. “Eat here or see if we’re allowed off campus yet?”

Greg’s brown eyes cut around the room, not so subtly looking for someone. “Ah, eat here.”

“Oh yeah. He was definitely distracted,” Archie put in.

“Hey! Just ‘cause you decided that you…” Greg stopped obviously thinking better of his words. “Never mind. Can we go eat now?”

“Oh, no. What were you going to say, Sanders?” Ella hooked her fingers in the belt loops of his jeans, dragging him back towards her.

“Come on, Ella,” he whined in reply. “You know I didn’t really mean it.” He threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “I’m hungry and I wasn’t thinking.”

She gently shoved him off her, rolling her eyes at him. “Problem is, you open your mouth before you think. Come on. Let’s feed you. It gives you something else to do with your mouth.”

Greg grinned at her. “Not what I wanna do with it.”

Ella aimed a smack at his head, but Greg was well used to her reactions and he danced out of her way, laughing. Archie just shook his head at the two of them, a small smile crossing his face. “Can we go eat or are you two going to abuse each other some more?”

“Yes foooood. Please!” Greg begged.

“Clearly we know where his priorities lie,” Ella responded.

“And that’s changed since when?” Archie asked.

“Hey. There are other things in life. Like sex. And science. I just don’t happen to be getting any of the sex right now,” Greg answered. “Now the science. I can definitely get behind the science.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask how you would combine sex and science,” Archie started.

“No. Please. Do _not_ ask him,” Ella said as she grabbed a tray. “Trust me you do not want to know.” Greg opened his mouth to explain and she hip-checked him. “No. I don’t need to attempt to invent brain bleach again.”

“I think I’m glad I missed that one,” Archie replied.

“You should be.” Ella added an apple to his tray before nudging him towards a table. “It wasn’t pretty.”

“Aw. Are you afraid I’m gonna chase your boyfriend away?” Greg asked. “You were mine first.”

Ella kicked at his shin, not really aiming to hit him. “I belong to _no_ man! Or anyone else! I am my own woman!” She glared at the two girls who’d turned to look at her. “Oh bugger off,” she told them.

Greg grinned at her as they sat down. “It’s okay, Ells. You know who we are. All for one and one for all!”

Ella favored him with an unamused look. “We are _not_ the three fucking musketeers.”

“Well no. ‘Cause that would be awkward. And wrong,” Greg responded. “ _We_ ’re not fucking. And I don’t want to know what you and Archie are doing.”

“And that’s where it starts to get really weird,” Archie commented.

“I’m sorry. ‘Cause it wasn’t before?” Ella asked him. She poked at Greg with her fork. “So you wanna tell me what was distracting you during the oh so entertaining speech?”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” Greg replied. “And stop poking me. Poke him!”

“No, dear. He pokes me,” Ella responded. “And please. Do not attempt to bullshit me. I know very well that you were watching _someone_ during that speech. So spill. Male or female?”

Greg made a gagging noise. “That was really not an image I needed.” He sighed when Ella simply looked at him. “Fine. I was watching someone. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve got what? A one in one forty-seven chance of actually meeting him? Yeah…screw that.”

“Well maybe you’ll get lucky and he’ll be in our group,” Archie commented.

“Yeah. I’m never that lucky,” Greg answered. He checked his watch before digging his headphones out of his pocket. “I’m gonna take a walk before we have to be at our first class. Unless either of you object?”

“Set your alarm,” Ella reminded him.

Greg twisted his wrist to show her that he’d already done it. “Yes, Mom. What would I ever do without you?” He bent down and kissed the top of her head. “See you guys there.”

Archie held up his fist for Greg to bump his against, asking, “You want company?”

“No, not really. Just need a little time. Stay with Ella.”

“Ella can take care of herself!” the girl in question called after him and Greg waved to acknowledge that he’d heard her.

Greg took a deep breath as he let himself out of the building. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his friends, but sometimes it was a little too much to spend time with them. When they were working, nothing mattered but the science, but when they were just hanging out; sometimes it turned into Ella and Archie being a little too couple-y. As happy as Greg was for them; sometimes he missed the days when they were _just_ friends. For now, he stuck his earbuds into his ears and picked a direction, figuring he had time to get a decent walk in before he had to meet the others for their class.

 

 

 

Nick Stokes stretched as he got to his feet at the end of the welcome speech. He wasn’t used to sitting for so long in one position, even in class he normally had the opportunity to move around a bit. Beside him, his teammates, Bobby Dawson and Cody James also got to their feet. “Are y’all as hungry as I am?” Cody asked.

“Cody, the world has to have ended for you not to be hungry,” Bobby replied. “I could eat though. I wanna know why they thought it was a good idea to bore us before they fed us.”

“Probably because they figured it would be a way to keep us all in one room,” Nick pointed out. “And yes. Food.”

“So do we have any idea who we’re going to be paired up with?” Bobby asked as they made their way towards the cafeteria.

“Nope. I guess we’ll find out after our first class,” Cody said. “I wish they’d just tell us. Nick, don’t you want to know?”

“Yeah. It would be…” Nick sighed as his phone rang and he dug it out of his pocket. “Guys, I gotta take this or she’s just gonna call back.”

“Your mama?” Cody guessed.

“Of course.” Nick flicked the screen open. “Hi, Mama. Yes, Mama. I’m _fine_.” He rolled his eyes at his friends as he headed out of the building, still trying to reassure his mother that he was perfectly fine.

Nick sighed inaudibly as his mother continued to question what he’d been doing since he’d left home. “Mama, you do realize I’m a) eighteen years old and b) will be going to college in a few short weeks?” he finally asked.

“Yes, but you won’t be out of state for college,” she replied. “And I worry.”

“Well, worry about someone else for a change. I’m fine. I can take care of myself.”

“Nicholas Stokes, don’t you sass your mama!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Mama. I’m just sayin’. You’ve got six other kids and you don’t seem to worry about them nearly as much as you do me!”

“Well, of course not, you’re all my babies, but none of them are my _baby_.”

“Ma-ma,” Nick wailed. “You can’t tell me things like… Omph!”

“Nicky! Are you all right?” his mother demanded.

Nick grabbed at the teen that had run into him, trying to keep him from falling to the ground and also keep a hold of his phone. “Yeah, Mama. I’m fine. Just…hang on a minute.” He looked the teen over. “Are you okay?”

“Oh my god. I am so sorry. But why were you standing in the middle of the path?”

Nick sighed as he heard the tinny demands coming from his phone. He held his finger up at the other boy. “Hang on just a minute, okay?” Putting his phone up to his ear, he said, “Mama? I’m _fine_ , all right? I’ll call you and Daddy tomorrow. Love you both.” Clicking the phone off, he shoved it in his pocket. “Are you okay?”

“I what? But. I.” He blinked at Nick. “I ran into you.”

“I know. And ya hit me prudy hard. Are you okay?” Nick reached out and settled his hand on the other boy’s shoulder. “You didn’t hit the ground, did ya?”

“No. I. You caught me in time. You didn’t drop your phone, did you?”

Nick grinned. “No. I put it away. It was a good excuse to get rid of Mama away. I love her, but she would go on and on.” He dropped his hand, then held it out. “Nick Stokes. Texas.”

“Oh. Ah. Greg Sanders. California.” Greg shook his hand.

Nick’s eyes lit up. “California? Anywhere around here?”

“Um. Sorta? Well, San Gabriel. Which is close, but yeah, I’ve been to San Fran before. Why?”

“My team and I were talking about going out into the city this afternoon. Maybe you could recommend some places to go?”

“Oooor maybe.” Greg stopped. “Never mind. It’s a stupid idea.”

“You had another idea?” Nick asked.

“My team will probably go out a bit. If you want…it might be okay. I can ask them, for you all to go with us.”

“You think they’d be interested in that?” Nick questioned.

“Well, if they aren’t too busy sucking face.” Greg smacked himself. “Sorry. That was probably. Ella’s gonna kill me. Like I said, we talked about going into the city. I don’t see how adding a couple more people… Well I can see how they might be a bit put out but not once I explain things to them.” He started as the alarm on his watch went off. “I gotta get to my class.”

Nick grabbed at his wrist, turning it so he could see the other boy’s watch. “Oh. I need to get to mine, too.”

Greg started walking backwards away from him. “So. Main Hall after class? Even if Ella and Archie won’t come I’ll meet you guys and we can figure out what you want to see.”

“That sounds good.” Nick hid a smile as Greg almost tripped over a branch. “Maybe you should watch where you’re going.”

“Right.” Greg waved. “Later.” He spun around and took off towards the building his class was in.

Nick grinned as he stuck his hands in his pockets. “Well, that was…interesting.” With a glance at his own watch, he realized he’d have to hurry or he’d be late to his own class.

 

 

 

Ella passed his iPad over to Greg as he slid into the empty seat next to her, tapping the AIM icon to activate it as she did so. He quickly signed in, already knowing what she wanted. In fact as soon as his log-in verified, a question popped up, _Did you have a nice walk?_

_It was fine. Despite the collision._

_Collision?! Are you okay??_

_I’m fine. Tall, dark, and Texan didn’t leave any marks. Not that I would have objected._

_Gregory Hojem Sanders. Start. At. The. Beginning._

_*sighs* I went for a walk. I wasn’t looking where I was going. And I ran into one of the other guys. End of story._

_Bull. Shit. Something else happened._

_He and his team want to look around the city. I said we’d be their guides._

_And? Who is he?_

_And he might be the guy I was watching earlier._

_Oh Greg._

_What? I didn’t hit on him. And he kept touching ME. I was gooood, Ella._

_Oh, I’m sure you were. All right. Did you have any thoughts on where to go?_

_Fisherman’s Wharf? And maybe Coit Tower? I was thinking we could eat at Boudin._

_You are totally trying to suck up to me._

_Of course._

_Fine. I think you’ll be buying Archie and me something at Boudin to make up for it though._

_*rolls eyes* Of course._

Ella settled back in her chair, clearly signaling that the conversation was over. And Greg breathed a silent sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure if Nick expected anything more than friendship, but he was willing to see what happened. And he was very glad Ella hadn’t given him a harder time. He had no illusions that he wouldn’t get an earful from her later though.

 

 

Greg waved at the dark haired boy sitting on the side wall, smiling when Nick waved back and broke into a wide smile. Two other boys were seated with him; one of them wearing a black cowboy hat. Ella raised an eyebrow at the sight. “Is he for real?” she asked.

“Hey, when you’re from Texas,” Greg commented. As he got close enough for Nick to hear him, he said, “Hey, Nick. This is Ella and Archie, my two best friends.”

“Hey, y’all,” Nick greeted them easily. “I’m Nick. These are Cody,” he indicated the boy in the hat, “and Bobby.”

For a few minutes there was a confusion of speech as the six teens tried to greet each other and chat for a few minutes. Finally Greg waved his hand at everyone. “So are we gonna stand here and babble all day?” he asked once everyone quieted down. “Or are we actually going to get going?”

“I’m sorry. You’re complaining about the babble?” Ella asked, even as they began walking.

“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever,” Greg muttered. “So we were talking about going to Fisherman’s Wharf, unless you guys object. I told Ella we’d go to Boudin’s for food and there’s plenty of things to see and do at the Wharf. And then we can go up to Coit Tower if it’s around sunset.”

The three Texans exchanged glances, then shrugged. “Sure,” Bobby spoke for all of them. “That sounds good.”

“What’s Boudin’s?” Cody asked.

“It’s a bakery. Among other things,” Greg answered.

“It’s not _just_ a bakery,” Ella pointed out. “It’s _the_ bakery. One of the best we’ve ever been too. They’ve got a café where we can get lunch.”

 

 

By the time they settled at the outdoor part of the café a few hours later, the six teens were quickly becoming fast friends. They were all hoping their groups would be assigned to work together when the teams were assigned. Despite what Nick had thought, the teams hadn’t been assigned as of yet.

As they settled down around the table, someone’s cell phone went off and everyone scrambled for their pockets. Greg held his up after a minute. “It’s me.” Glancing at the display, he grinned as he answered, “Hei, Papa Olaf. Hvordan gjør du?”

Nick looked surprised at the strange language coming out of Greg’s mouth, but then realized that neither Ella or Archie looked at all confused. When his two friends and Archie turned their attention back to their menus, Nick asked in a quiet voice, “What language is he speaking?”

Ella looked up from her own perusal of the menu. “Norwegian. He’s talking to Papa Olaf.” She tilted her head, listening for a minute. “Just checking in.”

“You speak it too?” Nick asked curiously.

“A little. I’m nowhere near fluent like Greg is. We’ve both been hearing it our whole lives.”

Nick watched Greg for a few minutes. The other boy was smiling as he murmured quietly in Norwegian, obviously not at all upset about taking a moment out of his time with his friends to hold the conversation. “So his…father? Is that who he’s talking to?”

Ella studied Nick for a minute, as if trying to decide why he was asking, before answering, “No. His grandfather. Greg. Greg lives with his grandparents. And you’re going to have to ask him if you want to know anything else.”

“Yeah, she’s right here,” Greg switched to English, causing them both to tune into his conversation. “Do you want to talk to her?” He grinned at whatever the reply was. “Okay. Ha det bra. Jeg elsker deg.” Hanging up the phone, his grin widened at Ella. “You’re supposed to keep me out of trouble.”

She snorted at that. “He’s known me how long?”

“I’m just relaying the message,” Greg replied. “Personally. I think you’re more likely to get me _into_ trouble.”

Ella smacked him lightly on the back of the head. “Don’t start with me. Or I’ll start telling these nice boys from Texas all the dirt.”

“Well that might be interesting,” Nick drawled.

“Hey. Now. What?” Greg squawked.

“It’s okay, Greg,” Archie told him. “You know she means it with love.”

Bobby shook his head. “Are y’all always like this?”

“Nope,” Ella answered, popping the ‘p’. “Normally we’re worse.”

Greg let his head thunk down on the table, just avoiding the dishes that had been set down. “’Cause this is making _such_ a good impression.”

Nick nudged him. “And why do you want to make a good impression?”

“I um I,” Greg tried. “Did I say that? I’m sure that’s not what I said or maybe I didn’t mean it like that. I meant it just ya know we’re representing our state and our school and…”

Ella placed her hand over his mouth, cutting him off. “See? Babble. Greg? Shut up. Eat.”

“So screwed,” Greg muttered. “So. So. Screwed.”

Nick started coughing, his face almost turning red. Greg looked at him in concern, pushing a water glass towards him. Cody hit him on the back, asking, “Did you swallow wrong, Stokes?”

“Something like that,” Nick gasped out when he could breathe again. “I’m fine,” he insisted when Cody went to hit him again. His friend looked at him in confusion, but backed off.

“So Coit Tower is better at sunset,” Greg explained as the group dug into the food they’d ordered. “We can kill some more time at the Wharf and then head up.”

Cody shook his head. “I want to take a look at some of the classwork we got today. I think I’m going to head back to campus after we finish eating.”

“Cody is all about the classwork,” Bobby explained. “We’re lucky we got him out for this long.”

“Hey now. I play sports,” Cody protested.

“So he’s all about school work and sports,” Nick corrected. “It’s kinda boring at times.”

“Says the guy with the double scholarship to A&M,” Cody retorted.

“All right, enough, y’all,” Bobby broke in. “They’re gonna think all we do is fight.”

Archie laughed. “Trust me. This is nothing compared to when Ella and Greg get going.”

Nick chuckled. “Are they that vicious?”

“They’ve just been best friends since kindergarten,” Archie explained. “Sometimes it’s just better to let them argue it out and not get between them.”

“Well at least they probably don’t come to blows,” Nick commented.

“Clearly you don’t know Ella and Greg very well,” Archie replied.

“I think I’m offended by that,” Ella commented.

Archie slipped his arm around her shoulders. “You only think, baby?” He pressed a kiss to the side of her head since she avoided his lips.

“And he thinks Ella and I are bad,” Greg said.

“Keep it up, Archie,” Ella said. “And you…” she stopped. “Never mind.”

The two California boys laughed at her comments, clearly knowing what she intended to say, and also not willing to share. Greg reached out and tapped Ella’s nose, saying something to her in Norwegian. Turning to the group as she scrunched her nose at him, he asked, “So what are we doing after this? Since we have a bit of time before we can head to Coit.” Bobby spread one of the tourist maps out on the table and the group discussed the rest of their afternoon as they finished eating.

 

 

Nick stuck his hands in his pockets as he and Greg watched their friends get on the bus that would take them back to campus. “You don’t haveta go with me,” Greg said as he spun on his heel so he was facing the other boy.

“If I didn’t want to go, I would have gone back to campus with the others,” Nick replied. “So are we walking? Or is there another way?”

“We can walk. Or we can take the light rail. It’s about the same time either way. Just depends on which you’d rather.”

“Well, we don’t have to hurry, right?” Nick asked. “So we can take our time with the walk.”

“Yeah. We can do that,” Greg agreed. He indicated the direction they needed to go.

Nick glanced at Greg as they strolled along. The other teen had shoved his own hands in his pockets and was scuffing his feet as they walked along, not looking at Nick at all. After a minute, Nick asked, “Ella said you live with your grandparents?”

Greg’s head jerked up and he stumbled a bit before recovering. “Yeah. I have for a while. What else did she tell you?”

“That’s it. She said I’d have to ask you anything else.”

“Yeah. That sounds like Ella. So do you want to ask?”

“Do you want me to know?” Nick replied. “Or do you want to ask me something?”

Greg reached up and tugged at his spikey blonde hair. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Why did you offer to show us around the city?”

“Why not?” Greg returned. “You wanted to see it and we were going anyway.”

“So. No other reason?” Nick watched him out of the corner of his eye.

Greg shrugged. “I don’t know. I saw you during the welcome speech this morning. But I didn’t figure I’d actually meet you. And…” He stopped. “Never mind.” He indicated the steps they’d reached. “If you want, we can go up to the top of the tower. It’s not that expensive to take the elevator up.”

“Sounds good.” Nick motioned for him to lead the way. “After you.”

Greg glanced over his shoulder as he started up the steps. “Is there a particular reason you want me to go first?”

“If there is, I’m not going to tell you,” Nick replied with a grin. “You might want to watch where you’re going.”

Greg stumbled a bit on the steps and turned to face the right direction, replying, “Yeah. I’m really not this big of a klutz.”

Nick didn’t respond, watching instead as Greg continued to climb the stairs. He was sure that people normally looked around them as they followed the stairs up, but he was much more interested in the scenery right in front of him. As they reached the top of the steps, Nick caught up to him; resting his fingers on Greg’s back for a few moments. Greg glanced at him, smiling almost shyly before pointing the way towards the tower entrance. “That the way we need to go?” Nick asked.

“Um, yeah?” Greg ducked his head. “What are you doing?”

“Do you not want me to?” Nick asked.

“I didn’t say that. I just… This doesn’t always end well. Ya know?”

“Yeah. I know. No pressure. Okay?”

Greg smiled. “All right. Still wanna go up to the top?”

“Yeah. I’d like to see the view.”

“Stay here for a minute then.” Greg hurried off and returned triumphant a minute later. “I was right. They didn’t question who I was buying the second ticket for.”

Nick reached for his wallet. “What do I owe you?”

Shrugging, Greg tugged him towards the elevator. “Don’t worry about it. I told you, it’s not much.”

Nick thought about protesting, but decided it wasn’t worth it with the tentative peace or whatever they had at the moment to argue about it. Instead he followed Greg into the elevator. “So what’s so special about this place?” he asked.

Greg’s eyes lit up at the question and he explained about the tower being named for Lillie Hitchcock Coit. As they rode up to the top, he continued the explanation on how she’d donated the money to have the tower built to add to the beauty of the city. He added that there was a monument in a nearby park that she’d also donated money for and that the firm of Arthur Brown, Jr. designed the tower and also the City Hall.

“You know a lot about this,” Nick commented as they stepped out onto the observation deck, having climbed the steps they’d taken after exiting the elevator.

Greg shrugged. “I like history. It’s interesting. And you’d be surprised what connections you can make with science.”

Nick started to reply and then caught sight of the view. “This is fantastic. I can see most of the city. Both bridges and… I could probably see more if the sun wasn’t going down.”

“Yes it is,” Greg agreed and Nick turned to look at him, realizing he wasn’t looking at the city.

“See something you like?” Nick drawled, leaning against the pillar and staring back at Greg.

“Yeah I can… I can almost see Alcatraz. It’s just. It’s hard to make out with the sun glare and all. I was trying to…” Greg babbled.

Nick pushed off the pillar, stalking slowly towards him. He had glanced around when they first got up to the top and been pleased to note that they were pretty much alone. There were a couple other people, but none of them were paying them the least bit of attention.

Now he crowded Greg until the other boy was backed up against the pillar, pressing close until he could feel the heat pouring off the other boy. “Tell me no if you don’t want this,” he cautioned.

“Don’t want what? What wouldn’t I want? I’m not even sure what you’re going to do. You’re awful close. Why are you so close?”

“This is why,” Nick replied before closing the last of the distance and pressing his mouth to Greg’s.

Greg’s hands scrambled at the wall behind him, clearly not sure where he should hold, then Nick’s hands grabbed hold of them and settled them on his hips. A minute later Greg’s fingers dug into Nick’s hipbones as he moaned softly, his mouth opening underneath Nick’s. Nick used the opening to slip his own tongue into the other teen’s mouth, pressing closer to him.

Unable to resist now that he seemed to have free rein, Nick slipped his own hands around, filling them with the gorgeous ass he’d had his eyes on all the way up the steps. He groaned at the feeling, sliding his thigh between Greg’s legs and pressing against the hardness he found there. Greg squirmed against him and it was all Nick could do not to keep thrusting until they both came in their pants. He did retain enough presence of mind to remember they were in a very public place though.

Greg pulled his mouth away, breathing heavily. “Jesus, Nicky,” he gasped.

Nick framed Greg’s head with his hands, drawing back enough that the other teen could catch his breath and they could calm down a little. “We’ve got time,” he whispered. “Time to get to know each other and to see where we want to take this. I just need to know right now if you _want_ to use that time.”

“Yes.” Greg smiled widely at him. “I do.”

“Good.” Nick drew back a little more. “I hate to say this, but we’re probably gonna get kicked out of here soon.”

“But we don’t have to go back to campus yet, do we?” Greg asked as Nick drew him away from the pillar and towards the steps.

“No.” Nick smiled at him. “No. I don’t think we do yet. I don’t think we do at all.” Reaching out, he took Greg’s hand and laced his fingers through the other teen’s, looking over at him to be sure it was all right. Greg smiled blindingly in return, holding on as they started down the stairs and into whatever the future held.

 

 

 

 

_Hei, Papa Olaf. Hvordan gjør du?—Hi, Papa Olaf. How are you doing?  
Okay. Ha det bra. Jeg elsker deg.—Okay. Goodbye. I love you._

 

 


End file.
